The citizens of Pompeii, in Italy, were living the normal ebb and flow of life until the sudden eruption of nearby Mount Vesuvius buried the city in lava one summer day in a.d. 79. Years later, when excavators were unearthing the city, they found the Pompeiians preserved in their state of existence when the eruption occurred. Some were found at parties or on roofs, while others had tried to escape in cellars. The excavators were surprised to find a Roman soldier standing at the city gate where his captain had put him. His hands were still grasping his weapon! While the earth shook beneath him and the sky was falling, he stood his ground.
Mark this, my friend: there may be times when a sudden eruption of spiritual attack comes upon you. It may feel like your entire world is crumbling, as if the very earth beneath you is shaking. Do not give in to fear but instead stand firm in your identity in Christ. Days of evil will come, but you must remain faithful in your position in Christ “so that after the battle you will still be standing firm” (Ephesians 6:13). You can stand in the face of evil because of what Christ accomplished on the cross and because He has taken you onto His side in the war.
One way to look at the temptations of Christ in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11) is to see each temptation as an attempt by Satan to challenge the Lord’s identity. Thankfully, these attempts were unsuccessful. Change a stone into bread? No, Christ was the faithful Son of the Father and would not disobey the Father by using His power in that way. Jump off the highest point of the temple in the expectation that angels would catch Him? But Christ was sent to be our Lord and Savior, not a divine show-off. Receive all the power in the world in exchange for bowing to Satan? Certainly not, for Jesus was the Messiah and was intended to receive authority over the whole universe through obedience to the Father.
If Christ had His identity challenged by Satan, we can expect to have our identity in Him challenged as well.
We must make sure that we know—really know—whose we are.
As believers, we are “in Christ,” the great victor over evil. If we want spiritual victory ourselves, we need to live according to our new position in Christ. This involves four steps.
1. Believe in the reality of your death to sin through Christ.
The change that was wrought in your soul when you first believed in Christ was invisible. Today it is bearing fruit such as peace and joy as well as more visible evidence that God is blessing your ministry on His behalf. And yet Satan sometimes will try to get you to doubt whether you really have been changed and whether you really are accepted by God.
If you have placed your trust in God, your death to sin is a fact. “We are no longer slaves to sins. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin” (Romans 6:6-7). Even if you cannot see or feel your death to sin through Christ, believe in it because God has said it is so.
2. See yourself as no longer under the power of sin.
Satan will try to make it appear to you that you are helpless before temptation. But the truth is that your faith in Christ means that the power of sin over you has been broken. You just have to live that way. Paul put it this way: “Consider yourselves dead to sin and able to live for the glory of God through Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11).
Do not listen to the Devil’s lies. You are a new person through Christ. You do not need to repeat your mistakes of the past. You can live up to your new condition by choosing what is holy over what is unrighteous.
3. Surrender your whole being to God.
All too often Christians try to hold back a part of themselves from God. They want to retain a (false) sense of control over their own destinies. Or they want to hold on to a cherished sin or two. Do not make that mistake!
Paul said, “Do not let any part of your body become a tool of wickedness, to be used for sinning. Instead, give yourselves completely to God since you have been given new life” (Romans 6:13). If you want to be successful in your spiritual warfare, commit yourself 100 percent to your Commander-in-chief.
4. Obey God’s commands.
“You can choose sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God and receive His approval” (Romans 6:16). The choice is yours, but only one of the options leads to power and victory.
Choose to obey God. The orders He gives may seem restrictive. You might think you have better ideas about what you should do. But God knows the enemy and the battlefield far better than you ever will. Obeying His instructions leads to success.
The world system within which we live encourages disobedience to God. It idealizes appearance, status, and self-centered pleasure. The world scorns God’s truth and declares false religions to be in vogue. Satan uses these qualities of the world to deceive us into accepting distorted values and false hopes for happiness so we will live a life contrary to God’s will.
The Bible is clear about how we should respond to the world system:
“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect His will really is” (Romans 12:2).
As we renew our minds with God’s truth, we will see ourselves, others, and God as He intended. We will be set free from a deceptive world system that wants to keep us in bondage (John 8:32).
By Bill Bright
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